Garden wheelbarrow



Jun 7 1927.

e B. PRlVAT GARDEN WHEELBARROW Filed Jan. 16, 1926 INVENTOR Bernard Fri/vat m ATTORNEY Patented June 7, 1927;

. BERNARD PRIVAT, or sroox'ron;'oArinoRniA.

GARDEN wnnnnnnnnow,

. Application filed lanua'ry. 16, 1926. scrial N o. 81,689.

The principal'objeot of my-mvention is to provide a wheelbarrow whose sides are permanently connected to, the wheelbarrow rather thanbeing detachable; as: usual, and yet are arranged to .be instantly .lowered selectively and at will by a single simple operation. Considerable. time and effort are thus saved when dumping a load over the use of an ordinary wheelbarrow with which a side-board must first be removed and laid to. one side andwhen the wheelbarrow is tipped over the other side usually drops off.

Another object is to provide means. for enabling the sides to beheld when desired in horizontal alinementwith the bottonrof the wheelbarrow so as to form relativelywide supporting si rfacefor carrying hay, brush, and similar light yet. bulky material.

that it canbe instantly operated by the feet withouthaving to let go they handles of'the wheelbarrow. l V

A further object of the invention is, to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will .be exceedingly effective for I release mechanlsin to enable the same tobe the purposefor which it is designed.

These ob ects I. acconiphshibymeans of suchstructure and relat ve arrangement of parts as will fullyappear by a .perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate. corresponding partsin the several.view's.v i

Fig. 1 is a'perspe-ctive View ofthe wheel- I barrow showing the right side-board lowered.

. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the sideboards fastened ina horizontal plane for hauling hay, brush or the like.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the wheelbarrow showing the right side-board closed andthe left one opened and held against downward movement beyond a horizontal position.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section of the wheelbarrow taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3, and showing the side catch releasing structure.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. '3, and showing latch for holding an adjacent side-board,'

against the front end portion.

' Referring now more particularly tothe characters of reference markedon the draw- 'rwt i ings, the numeral 1 denotes the usualtransversely spaced frame and handle beams supported at their forward ends by a wheel 2- and at. their rear .ends by legs 3. "Mounted.

on-the frame is a fixed bottom board l, and a front end-board 5, the latter; being rigidly held in position 1 and braced byjvertical beams 6 on the outside tliereof,;which beams i are connected at their upper ends by a trans verse beam 7. This arrangement ijsstandard in Varioustypes of wheelbarrows and Ido I theverticaliedges of the front board 5 and project somewhat ahead ofthe same, as;

shown ,inFig. 5. A transversespring strap 10, fixed centrally between its ends ontov the front boardo, extends past the Vertical beams 6 and carries'on its outer ends fixed latches 11 arranged to engage, the [outer faces of the f side-boards at their forward ends, and normally held'in such engagement by the action-of the spring strap 10.v s 7 Each latch is provided with an individual moved forwardly at will,;so as to disengage the corresponding side-board; Each release;

mechanism comprises a dog in'the form 10f:

a bellcrank- 12 pivoted onto the adjacent beam 6, one end of the bellcrankbeing positioned tobear against (the rearfface of the strap 10. Anotherbellcrank 13 connected at one end to the freel'end of the bellcrank 1:2 bya wire lfL-is mounted at the lower-end of the beam 6 so that the other end of said bellcrank 13 is; below the bottom board 4, as shown in Fig. 4- A pivoted lever 15 is mounted on the inside of each leg 3. The upper end of this lever isconnected to the bellcrank 13 bya pull wire 16, thelower end of the lever being enlarged as at 17 to form a footpad;v

The above described parts are so arranged that forward pressureon the pad 17 causes the upper end of the corresponding bellcrank 12 to be moved forwardly against'the strap 10, causing the adjacent latch 11 to be too released from the corresponding side 8, allowing thelatter to turn outwardly on its hinges and drop as in Fig. 1.

To impart initial movement to the side 8 .after the latch has been released, I have mounted a spring 18 of suitable character between the beam 6 and the adjacent sideboard 8, the spring being compressed when said side-board is engaged bv therlatch.

After either side-board has been lowered, it isreturned to its normal latch engaged position by hand or foot without having to manipulate the catch and release mecha "To prevent dirt from being s'queezedbetween the edges of the side, bottom and top portionsnvhen said side-boards are moved Vup to a vertical position, the lower inner edges of the sideboards are beveled oif as'at l9, and the vertical inner edgesof'the front board '5 are similarly beveled as at 20.

' Ordinarily when the latches 11 are released the side-boards drop unrestrained to a substantially vertical position opposite to their normal position.- In order to prev cut ,them dropping to this extent and to hold them level with the bottom board 4t when desired, I provide brace rods 21, one for each side-board, which brace roos are pivoted at their upper ends onto the forward face of the transverse beam f. The opposite ends of these rods are formed with hooks 22 to engage seats provided therefor in the sideboards in transverse alinement with a's-sho'wn' at 23' in Fig. 3. H I

The brace rods are permanently mounted the rods,

on the beam 7 and when not in use'arefolded over to lie in a substantially horizontal position alongside the beam 7, being then held against unfolding movement by a spring cradle 2a preferably mounted in fixed connection with the strap 10 centrally of its length;- I

' From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I- have produced such a' .device as substantially fulfills "the objects of-th'e invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice suchdeviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not'form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims. j I

Having thus described my invention'what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent' is: a

1. A wheelbarrow including fixed bottom and front end boards, side boards hinged along the bottom board andnormally abutting against and extendingv ahead of the front end board, releasable latch means normally holding the Sideboards in such position; the lower horizontal edges of the side boards, and the vertical edges of thefront end boardbeingcut on an inward'bevel to prevent dirt being squeezed-be'tween' the parts when the side boards are moved up-- wardly to a front-end,boardengaging position. i

" 2. A Wheelbarrow including fixedbottom and front end boards, side boards hinged along the bottom' board and normally abutting-against and extending ahead of the front end board, individual latches engaging the front ends of the side boards when the latter are raised, a spring strap mounted onto the front end board and to which the latches are fastened, saidstrap acting' to press the latches against the side boards, and individually operable release meansfor tl e latches acting against the strap adjacent the latches for moving the same forwardly and onto the front end board and to which the latches are fastened, said strap acting to press the latches against the side boards, pivoted d'o'gsmounted in connection with the front end board and disposed re'arwardlyof the strap'adjacentthe latches and arranged for movement against the strap to press the same forwardly, and means forfimparting' such movement to the dogs individually mounted at the rear end of the wheelbarrow.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

. BERNARD PRIVAT j 

